Italy - Factors to watch on July 9

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Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).

ECONOMY

Italy's economy will shrink about 2 percent in 2012 though signs of recovery could start to appear at the end of the year, Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco said in an interview.

PUBLIC FINANCES

Italy has raised more than 9.5 billion euros so far in 2012 from a housing tax introduced as part of emergency budget measures, and is on track to meet its target for the full year, the Economy Ministry said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Mario Monti hit back at the increasingly critical employers lobby Confindustria on Sunday, saying that its complaints about the government were helping to push up Italian borrowing costs and damaging companies.

Monti said the return of sovereign bond yields to danger levels last seen before the EU summit in June was a concern and needed to be addressed by eurozone finance ministers.

EURO ZONE DEBT CRISIS

Euro zone finance minister meet on Monday to discuss key elements of the accord reached at the June 28-29 EU summit.

Countries who want the euro-zone's permanent bailout funds to buy their bonds to help lower borrowing costs will have to commit to a reform programme, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in an Italian daily on Saturday.

European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure on Friday dashed the prospect of the ECB buying government bonds to calm financial markets, saying it was up to the euro zone's ESM rescue fund to do so if needed.

BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA

The bank will make a capital gain of 227 million euros after holders of subordinated debt worth around 1 billion euros took up a swap offer on Friday, in a deal aimed at boosting the bank's core capital.

The sale of the group's Biverbanca unit to Cassa di Risparmio di Asti may hit a hurdle due to diverging views over the unit's stake in Italy's central bank opposing the buyer to two shareholder foundations, La Stampa reported.

FONDIARIA-SAI, UNIPOL

Italian insurer Unipol suffered a further setback in its efforts to take over troubled peer Fondiaria-SAI, when market watchdog Consob refused to approve rights issues due to be launched on Monday.

Consob is likely to give its go-ahead on Wednesday or Thursday so that the capital increases could be launched on Monday July 16, several newspapers reported on Saturday.

Consob may consider suspending shares in the companies involved in the merger or hastening its decision to curb speculation on the stocks, Il Sole 24 Ore wrote on Sunday.

Unipol and Fondiaria may extend a deadline for their exclusive talks and Fondiaria's parent Premafin may get more time from its creditor banks to account fot the delayed launch of the capital increases, Il Sole 24 Ore said on Sunday.

Premafin board meets on Monday and will consider writing to its creditors to ask for an extension of a July 20 deadline set by a debt restructuring deal for the launch of a capital hike.

An Italian court will rule on Wednesday on a complaint filed by Fondiaria's suitors the Sator and Palladio funds against the authorisation that Unipol received from insurance watchdog ISVAP for the Fondiaria deal, several newspapers reported on Saturday.

ENI

Italian oil major said on Sunday there has been an oil spill on its Nembe-Obama pipeline in Nigeria's onshore Niger Delta due to sabotage.

IMPREGILO

Benianimo Gavio, the head of Impregilo's shareholder Gavio group, told la Repubblica on Saturday an extraordinary dividend the builder could pay shareholders would total 100 million euros. Gavio also said around 300 million euros would be destined to a planned buyback for up to 20 percent of Impregilo.

Impregilo is in advanced talks to sell its Fisia Babcock unit to a Japanese partner while a Chinese group is willing to buy 60 percent of the Fisia Italimpianti unit and the remaining 40 percent at a later stage, he said.

Claudio Salini, a shareholder in Salini Costruttori, told Corriere della Sera on Saturday he disagreed with the project over Impregilo pursued by the Salini group, based on what he read on newspapers.

Shareholders in Salini Costruttori, he said, should be not asked to contribute in any way to a possible merger.

ENEL

The utility is confident it can cut net debt to 43 billion euros by year-end from 45.6 billion euros at end-March, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Sunday.

ASSICURAZIONI GENERALI

A government's decision to give the Bank of Italy supervisory powers over insurers raise a potential conflict of interests due to a 4.48 percent stake the central bank holds in Italy's biggest insurer, Corriere della Sera wrote on Saturday.

EDISON

The United States on Friday welcomed what it said was a decision by Edison International to withdraw from Iran's energy sector and scrap a multi-million dollar contract to explore Iran's Dayyer natural gas field.

SNAM RETE GAS

The gas distributor will have refinanced by early 2013 debt it must pay back ENI as it separates from the oil and gas group, CEO Carlo Malacarne told Corriere della Sera on Sunday. "We are covered for up to 15 billion euros, ensuring an average cost of debt of around 4 percent," he said.

RENEWABLES

Italy signed on Friday long-awaited decrees on new support schemes for solar and other renewable energy aiming to bring incentives in line with falling costs and ease the burden on consumers who pay for incentives with their bills.

BUONGIORNO

Japan's NTT Docomo completed on Friday its takeover offer on Italian mobile content and apps provider Buongiorno in a deal worth 209 million euros.

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